Page 31 of Blood on the Ice

“Now, now.” I walk over and bump his shoulder with my own. “Don’t take your frustration with your wicked deeds catching up to you out on me. I’ve done nothing but work to reform you, jackass.”

His lips quirk at the corner, and he gives me a knowing look. “You have, at that.”

This is the shit that throws me off and I swear to Apollo, I have no idea what to do about it.

“Should I throw together something to eat or will we be eating at the meeting?” I ask as I clear my clogged throat.

“Dinner there, I think, though I’d bet Morgana hasn’t considered it while taking care of the polar cub.” He scratches the scruff on his chin, tilting his head. “Think we should order somethingfrom Belle’s and have it delivered? That would be neighborly, right?”

Sometimes, I forget that despite Ignatius growing up in a rich, generationally wealthy family with high expectations, he wasn’t taught to deal with normal people as well as I was growing up with gangsters. His manners are excellent if you’re attending a fancy dinner or glad-handing at a fundraiser, but put him with regular supes doing regular shit and he acts like Jane Goodall with the gorillas.

“Yes, it would be a considerate thing to do. Don’t say neighborly unless we transport back to Mayberry in the 1950s, though.” I shake my head as I locate a menu from Belle’s in the kitchen junk drawer. At least his desire to impress the new Dean and the Wolfenberg matron have distracted him from the ugly task we’ll have tomorrow when he has to fix shit with Kimiko.

Iggy takes the bottle and his glass over to the table where he was scrying, sitting in front of it with a frown. “The thing that puzzles me, though, Slade… This greenhouse surely has poisonous plants and herbs that would heal, but that’s the science part. Who is casting spells in Kimiko’s sanctuary? And how has she not noticed and kicked their ass?”

I have to admit: it’s a fair question. If he had attempted to locate the poison’s origin, it would be different. But his incantation was keyed to finding the source of the magical component, so this result means there’s a person casting there. I can’t see why Kimiko would try to kill the young heir, nor discredit the dean. She might hate Ignatius, but that venom is reserved for him because of his actions. This kid didn’t do anything to her and since she wasn’t a Magnus supporter, neither has Morgana.

The whole thing is hinky, my dad would say.

“I don’t know, Iggy. I agree it’s suspicious, and we should be very careful tomorrow. But we also have to share these thoughts and theories with the others tonight. Maybe another viewpoint will shake loose a clue?”

His expression is grim. “It has to or we’re going to fail at saving that kid. That will mean hell to pay—for all of us.”

a little help from my friends

“Oh, this tea ishot and spicylike a good masala chai and Iloveit!”

It’s hard not to chuckle as Jackson and the disembodied voice he introduced as his boyfriend, Eli, chatter about my current problem. “I don’t have much time. He’s not stupid; he’ll know I’m not taking this long to change, Jackson.”

“How ‘bout this, sweet cheeks? I’ll have Eli do some surreptitious digging—he’s got a lot to do for a bold, brassy supe woman at the moment—and we’ll confirm everything you and the hottie hockey boy toy discussed. If your nerds are telling the truth, then you can make better decisions.”

That eases my worry a little, and I stop chewing on my thumbnail. “Okay. Can he investigate potential threats against Lucas? I can’t find the first mate that called me in three hundred years and let some dipshit, half-assed assassin take him out on my watch.”

The higher pitch voice of his lover echoes as he calls, “Oh, oh! But if you need a better one, I know one. Expensive as hell and based in Europe at the moment, but I can help broker it.”

Alrighty then. Chaotic good Jackson’s boyfriend is neutral evil—good to know.

“Thanks… I think,” I say to Eli as I shake my head. “I don’t need to hire a killer. If you guys can continue working on that for Lucas and add my minor dilemma to the plate, it’d be amazing.”

“Aces, Morgana. We’re on it.” Jackson pauses and I almost hear the hesitation in his voice. “You’ve been around a long time, right? It seems odd you’d never felt the whole ‘mating’ thing in all your exploits. You aren’t feeling that pull to anyone else, right? I’m testing a theory.”

I blink.How did he know?“No, I hadn’t felt it, even with Magnus. I’d given up, truthfully. Dad always said it arrived young. Three hundred isn’t old for us, but it felt like time to be realistic.”

“She didn’t say yes or no,” Eli sings in the background. “You got another one ofthose, Jax.”

“Another what?” I demand. I don’t even know this kid; what the hell is he talking about?

Jackson chuckles. “He means I’m working for another shifter gal who’s still picking her team. The other woman I mentioned is doing the same, though she’s working on a starting line for football, it feels like. I don’t know about you yet because you’re only giving up the chilly bear.”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t even looking for one, and I’m not trying to build a clash, Jackson. Keep your starry-eyed romantic on a leash.”

Of course, there’s no need to say anything about Slade or Iggy; I have done nothing with them and I’m not going to.

“Gotcha, Boss Lady,” Eli calls over the line. “One delusional gargoyle task list in progress.”

Jackson sighs heavily and I realize he’s so fond of this playful hacker that he’s not even worried about him pissing off his clients. That also tells me just how good they are—people put up with their eccentricity because the results are worth the annoyance. I’d probably enjoy meeting this other chick they keep referring to; I bet we’d get along.

“I’ll call you if we have anything to add.”

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